Improvement in apparatus for puddling iron



2 Sheets--Sheet1.

F. A. LELAUBIN. Apparatus for Puddling Iron.

Patented Ian. 6, 1874.

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Patented lan 6,1874.

9524144224 jimaiiar FREDERIO A.-LELAURIN, OF TROY, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR PUDDLING IRON.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 146,259, dated January 6, 1874; application filed June 20, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, F mnnmo A. LELAU- RIN, of Troy, in the county of Madison and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improved Machine for Puddling Iron or Steel; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings making part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation. Fig. 2 is a front elevation. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the beam. Fig. 4 is a front view of the swinging frame. Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the sector and rack. Fig. 6 is a plan View of the slotted guide for the beam. Fig. 7 is the slotted plate used with a single furnace. Fig. 8 is a similar plate adapted for a double furnace. Fig. 9 is a section of the starting and stopping device.

The same letters are employed in all the figures in the designation of identical parts.

This invention relates to that class of machines which are intended to relieve the workman from .the most severe part of the labor of puddlin g iron and steel by applying mechanical force to the operation of the rabble by which the ball is gathered, the puddler only being required to guide and direct its motion. The improvements consist in modifications, which will be hereinafter specifically indicated,

. for regulating the motion of the rabble at the wvill of the operator, and in conformity with the form of the hearth of the furnace.

In the annexed drawings, A is a vertical shaft fixed to a step-plate, B, and placed immediately over the door 0. On the top of this shaft is a frame, D, cast in two pieces, connected by flanges and bolts, and forming supports for the bearings of the driving-shaft E. The lower end of this frame,.at D is cast with a socket, to receive the top of the shaft, and

the upper part, at D is turned off with a tuba lar neck, for purposes to be hereafter described. The shaft and frame are held firmly in place by braces A, extending from the base of the frame to the back parts of the furnace. E is the driving-shaft, receiving motion from any prime mover, and extending through the frame D, and having its bearings'in the pipes F of the eccentric F, which have their bearings in the frame D. The shaft E revolves throw the eccentric in or out of gear. This is done by means of a bell-crank lever, I, one bifurcated end of which engages an amlular groove in the sleeve of the clutchE, and the other a similar groove in a collar on the rod I sliding in the tubular neck D which rod is raised or lowered by the lever I, pivoted to its upper end and actuated by a rod, 1 The eccentric strap G is connected with a cross-head, G to which are attached two parallel rods, G playing in slots through the bottom plate of the frame E, and moving the collar H, which slides freely on the guiding-shaft A up and down with the revolution of the eccentric, and stopping instantly when the eccentric is thrown out of gear withthe driving-shaft. A swinging frame, K, is hung upon the shaft A and neck D of the frame D, as shown in Fig. 1,

which, in connection with Fig. 4, shows clearly the form of the same. Within the open part of the frame is pivoted, at its angle, a bellcrank lever, L, the short arm of which is bifurcated, embracing an annularrecess in the collar H, so that the long arm will be thrown forward as the collar is raised, and drawn back as the collar H descends. A bifurcated rod, M,

is connected to the upper end of the long arm of the lever L by a pin, m, which is fixed to the rod M, and passes through a curved slot, L, in the said arm of lever L. The rod M eX- tends in a nearly horizontal direction from the i long vertical arm of lever L to the links N, depending from the swinging frame K, and is pivoted thereto by a pin, a. curved to conform to the. arc of a circle described by a radius equal to the length of the rod M from pivot to pivot, is so arranged in the long arm of lever L that it will be concentric with the pin or pivot a when said arm of lever L reaches the limit of its outward throw.

The pivotal point a will, therefore, under all circumstances, be carried to the same point in its arc of oscillation by the outward throw of lever L, but its extent of motion from that point inward will be greater or less, according to the position of the pin m in the curved slot L. The same pivot which unites M and N also The slot L,

supports the connecting-rod O, by which motion is communicated to the oscillating beam I, which carries the rabble It. The form of the beam is shown in Figs. 1 and 3. It is bent at the lower end to support a box pivoted to it, inwhich rests the rabble between two collars, which, embracing the box, cause the rab- 7 ing the frame horizontally on its axis to give any required direction to the rabble in the furnace. As the axis of rotation of the frame is coincident with the middle of the door, it follows that the free action of the rabble will be entirely independent of the position of the swinging frame.

The hearths of puddling furnaces upon which the ball is formed are, however, not round, and, therefore, it is important that the to-and-fro motion of the rabble should be modified to adapt it to this irregularity. This I do by means of the slotted plate S, which is secured to the front of the furnace at the foot of the shaft A. In this is cut a slot, S, by which the movement of the rabble is controlled, in the manner to be explained. The form of the slot must be varied according to circumstances. Fig. 7 shows one adapted to a single furnace, where the greatest movement is required to be in line with the door, and the least movement is required to be on the diagonals. Fig. 8 shows a form adapted to a double furnace, where the greatest motion is required to be on the v diagonals, and the least in line with the door. This slot receives a wrist-pin, T, projecting from the bottom of the sliding rack T, which will be moved on the upper face of the plate S with the swinging frame, and also be moved nearer to or farther from the center of oscillation by the action of the slot S. The rack engages a segment of corresponding teeth on the short arm of the bell-crank lever U, the long arm of which is pivoted to the connecting rod V, whose upper end is attached by a pivotbolt to the rod M. As the rack is moved from or toward the center of 0s cillation, the lever U will cause the end of the rod M to be raised or lowered in the segmental slot L, and the extent of the throw of the rods M andN and .O, and consequently of the beam which moves the rabble, to be correspondingly increased or diminished. The change is automatically and invariably produced as the swinging frame is made to traverse the plate S. This movement is only affected as to the in ward movement of the beam which advances the rabble into the furnace, the outward movement being always to the full length of the sweep, as that part of the action of the rabble should remain constant.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In combination with the swinging frame carrying the rabble and its operative mechanism, the stopping and starting mechanism, also attached to and moving with said frame, within reach of the operator, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of the rabble, an oscillating beam carrying the same, and a mechanism which imparts a uniform outward and a variable inward throw to the rabble, substantially as specified.

3. In combination with the shaft A and frame D, shaft B, and eccentric and clutchcoupling, the rods G and collar H for actuating the lever L, which communicates motion to the oscillating beam and rabble, substantially as set forth.

4. The plate S, having a slot, 8, determined as to its form by that of the sole of the furnace, in combination with the sliding rack T and mechanism, intermediate between it and the rabble, to automatically regulate the inward throw of the latter without changing its outward throw, substantially as set forth.

5. 'In combination, the oscillating beam 1?, the arms M, N, and O, and lever L, provided with a segmental slot for determining the movement of the rod M, substantially as set forth.

6. In combination with the oscillating beam and rabble, an intermediate pivoted bearingplate, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribin g witnesses.

FREDERIG A. LELAURIN.

Witnesses:

ALBERT VALLoTroN, ANTHONY ZEIIINGER. 

